{"id":61518,"date":"2024-01-18T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=61518"},"modified":"2024-01-17T17:50:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T22:50:35","slug":"2024-nba-draft-sleepers-underrated-prospects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/18\/2024-nba-draft-sleepers-underrated-prospects\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NBA Draft Sleepers: Underrated Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024 NBA Draft<\/a>, considered a weaker class, may lend itself perfectly for underrated draft prospects to rise up draft boards<\/a>. This is especially true when considering role players will be coveted in this draft due to a lack of star power. There are always teams looking for that diamond in the rough outside the lottery or even in the second round. Fortunately, there are some good prospects currently that may not be getting the love that they deserve.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the most underrated draft prospects in the 2024 class.<\/p>\n

2024 NBA Draft Sleepers: Underrated Prospects<\/h2>\n

Dalton Knecht: Tennessee<\/h3>\n

Dalton Knecht\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> emergence is certainly the most popular on this list, although he still has more ascending to do. He’s gone for 28, 36, and 39 points in his last three games respectively. <\/a>These outbursts have helped solidify questions about first-round potential, but there are still plenty who don’t know how good a prospect Knecht is. He\u00a0is a six-foot-six wing who\u2019s a great perimeter shooter and also goes for highlight dunks when given a runway. Knecht has also shown he can provide great value as a cutter making him a great off-ball role player on offense. Currently, he isn\u2019t the best lateral mover on defense, but there\u2019s reason to believe he will be serviceable.<\/p>\n

While he may not be an underrated draft prospect for much longer, his progress will be intriguing to watch.<\/p>\n

Adama Bal: Santa Clara<\/h3>\n

Adama Bal<\/a><\/strong> has the archetype on the wing that NBA teams are usually very intrigued by. He\u2019s a six-foot-seven wing who has taken on a lot of ball-handling responsibility for the Broncos. He\u2019s also shooting 39.5 percent on the season from three on over four attempts per game. This combination of ball handling and perimeter shooting should make him very appealing to scouts as a possible \u2018point-wing\u2019 mold.<\/p>\n

Bal\u2019s had some big game performances averaging 15.4 points per game and recently scored a game-winner versus rival Gonzaga. Santa Clara has placed two first-round picks in the league for consecutive years in Brandin Podziemski<\/a><\/strong> and Jalen Williams<\/a><\/strong>. If the percentages and numbers hold, Bal should continue the trend and won\u2019t stay an underrated draft prospect for long.<\/p>\n

Baba Miller: Florida State<\/h3>\n

Many were hoping Baba Miller<\/strong><\/a> would have a breakout season in his sophomore campaign<\/a>. Unlike the first two on this list, however, the numbers and big games haven\u2019t been there for Miller this season. His physical tools might still be too intriguing to pass up though.<\/p>\n

At first glance, Miller will remind you a lot of 2021 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes<\/strong><\/a>. While certainly not the prospect Barnes was coming out of Florida State, he\u2019s still a fluid-moving six-foot-eleven wing. He\u2019s the height of most NBA centers but moves fluidly enough that he may be able to guard all five positions. The title of underrated draft prospect mostly all comes from Miller\u2019s drawbacks on offense. He\u2019s shooting an abysmal 50 percent from the free throw line and hasn\u2019t shown any real aggression on that end. This lack of aggression is what hurts his stock as he hasn\u2019t provided scouts with many flashes that things could get better.<\/p>\n

Even still, a defensive chess piece with his size and versatility shouldn\u2019t be overlooked. If NBA development staffs can simply unlock basic offensive talents, he could become a steal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024 NBA Draft, considered a weaker class, may lend itself perfectly for underrated draft prospects to rise up draft boards. This is especially true when considering role players will be coveted in this draft due to a lack of star power. There are always teams looking for that diamond in the rough outside the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4972,"featured_media":61611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[556,62],"tags":[3116,1811],"class_list":["post-61518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba-draft","category-nba","tag-nba-draft-prospect","tag-underrated-nba"],"modified_by":"Jacob Stephens, Associate Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}